AFRICA - House Foreign Affairs Committee Democrats

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After the May 1999 coup, the UNHCR continued efforts to relocate these refugees,
most of whom were displaced internally when the fighting erupted.
No refugees were deported forcibly to a country where they feared persecution.
Foreign refugees who fled Bissau with the outbreak of fighting are believed to have
done so voluntarily.
Section 3. Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens to Change Their Government
President Koumba Yala was elected in January with a 72 percent electoral majority
in a runoff election following multiparty elections in November 1999. Yala defeated
interim president Malam Bacai Sanha of the African Party for the Independence
of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde (PAIGC). Both elections were considered to
be generally free and fair by international observers, foreign diplomats, and local
NGO’s. Yala’s party, the Partida de Renovacao Social (PRS), won 38 of 102 National
Assembly seats. The victory of the PRS ended the 26-year domination of the PAIGC.
The African Party for the Independence of Guinea Bissau and Cape Verde
(PAIGC), the country’s only legal party from 1974 to 1991 and the majority party
in the National Assembly until the November 1999 elections, won 24 of the 102
seats in the National Assembly, while opposition parties gained a majority. The
Partido de Renovacao Sociat (PRS) won 38 seats, and the Resistencia da Guine
Bissau (RGB) won 29 seats, while 4 other parties split the remaining 11 seats. The
elections, which included candidates from 13 parties, as well as several independents,
were judged to be generally free and fair by international observers, although
they reported some irregularities.
In preparation for the November 1999 elections, the National Electoral Commission,
with the assistance of the UNOGBIS, conducted a voter registration program
among the estimated 1.2 million population. The current rolls showed 525,367 voters.
About 400,000 persons voted in the November 1999 elections.
PRS leader Koumba Yala and interim President Malan Bacai Sanha of the PAIGC
led a field of 12 candidates for president. Neither candidate secured an absolute majority
as required by law, so Yala and Sanha faced each other in a second round
of voting on January 16.
General Mane and the junta consistently declared that they would stay out of politics
once a new civilian government was elected; however, Mane did not accept completely
the authority of Yala’s Government. When he was inaugurated in January,
President Yala named 16 former junta members as Ministers, creating an uneasy
power-sharing arrangement between the military and the civilian government. The
resulting coalition government did not resolve fully issues of control over the budget
and the military. This uneasy coalition lasted for most of the year, as Mane placed
increasing restrictions on the elected civilian government. However, in November
Yala nominated 30 members of the armed forces for promotion without consulting
Mane. In response Mane placed the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces under house
arrest, declared himself Chief of Staff, and directed his soldiers to disarm the Presidential
Guard. The Presidential Guard and other elements of the armed forces refused
to take part in the coup, and General Mane and approximately 35 supporters
fled the capital. For a week, they hid in the countryside, and on November 30 in
Quinhamel, 40 miles north of Bissau, Mane and 8 of his supporters were killed in
an exchange of gunfire with government forces. Subsequently, President Yala reshuffled
his cabinet in an effort to control the military and move forward with reconstruction.
Adequate and timely payment of soldier and veteran benefits remained a concern.
Some international loan funds were devoted to such payments; the problem of back
pay for members of the armed forces remained unresolved at year’s end.
The Government arrested several opposition politicians during the year (see Section
1.d.).
Women are underrepresented in government and politics. In the National Assembly,
women occupy 9 of the 102 seats. In the Government of National Unity inaugurated
in February 1999, 1 of 10 cabinet ministers was a woman; however, there are
no female ministers in President Yala’s government.
Section 4. Governmental Attitude Regarding International and Nongovernmental Investigation
of Alleged Violations of Human Rights
The Government did not interfere with the privately operated Guinea-Bissau
Human Rights League (LGDH), and international human rights groups continued
to investigate human rights abuses without government harassment. International
and nongovernmental human rights groups, which effectively ceased operations with
the outbreak of hostilities in June 1998, resumed activities following the inauguration
of a Government of National Unity in February 1999.
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